Businesses are the target purchasers, not home computer users.
Businesses are driven much more by the bottom line than by pet juvenile prejudices. Businesses have said they want interoperability between linux and Microsoft applications. That's what this partnership is intended to do.
It's part of the necessary maturing of linux as it becomes an established long-term player in the business market. Microsoft tried but couldn't kill linux. Novell has the best and most comprehensive intellectual property portfolio related to linux (and Unix)--something Red Hat lacks. It only makes sense for Microsoft to strike a posture of detente vis a vis linux through Novell.
That said, Microsoft is demonstrably predatory and Novell will have to keep one eye on it all the time.
Final note: yes, Novell is paying royalties to Microsoft. But Microsoft is also paying royalties to Novell. The royalties pretty much offset each other; Novell may be slightly ahead.
Agreed, but they are likely going to lose a lot of their anti-Microsoft users who liked Novell simply because they saw it as an antithesis to SCO, but now see Novell as acting like SCO. the lady at Jokelaw said this deal made her want to "throw up", and her site is loaded with others who feel the same.
It's part of the necessary maturing of linux as it becomes an established long-term player in the business market.
Yes, one version of Linux may finally be earning some respectability, by recognizing the existing laws of business, instead of constantly trying to break them like has always been the goal of the free software radicals like Stallman.
Novell is paying royalties to Microsoft. But Microsoft is also paying royalties to Novell. The royalties pretty much offset each other; Novell may be slightly ahead.
That's not my understanding of the deal. Novell is paying royalties to Microsoft for each copy of Linux sold, while Microsoft is only agreeing to buy ~75K copies per year, of which they may even get their royalty. Microsoft may have even paid that full amount for those licenses up front, which is probably why cash-strapped Novell did the deal in the first place, we'll see when the details are released to the SEC later this week. It will take more time to tell if it was a smart move for either, but I don't think it will be unless they figure out a way to get Stallman's loons kicked out of Linux completely, which won't be easy, but this is a step in that direction.